The American Dream

Podcast Transcription

Narrator: Welcome to "Flippin Off," a purpose driven podcast about flipping houses and making a difference.

Dave: Hey, Dave Boswell here with my wife Melina Boswell, Founders of New Wealth Advisors Club. And today on our podcast we've got a really, really cool couple with us John and Selene. And we wanna take some time and go through like a journey and this really has been a journey and one that I know Melina and I find really special. And that really kinda living the American dream. And it's alive and well and we're gonna spend some time this morning really encouraging those of you that are listening about how the American dream really is still possible. And these guys, have just got a tremendous story and I know John is from the U.K.

John: Yes.

Dave: The U.K. and Selene?

Selene: From Mexico.

Dave: Wow. What a diverse couple we got here.

Selene: Right. The whole enchilada.

Melina: Yeah, my favorite part is Selene's Spanglish has a British accent. I never heard it before until then, it's the best.

Dave: It's so great. We find ourselves, we're like doing that with John all the time, I mean, he always laughs about like how everybody starts adapting to his accent so...

Selene: Move over to my house and you'll start talking like him.

Dave: So what I want do is, I want to be able to let everybody listening kinda hear about, you know, you guys is... I mean how did you find New Wealth Advisors Club and what even drew you to that? And you know, you have such diverse backgrounds and how you came together is crazy. And how you found us is crazy. And I think we just kinda wanna chat about that if that's cool with you guys.

John: Absolutely, yeah.

Selene: Yeah, of course.

Dave: Cool. So why don't you start John. So tell us about your journey here to the U.S.

John: So I mean, I've been in the U.S. now for about 15 years. I came over as a summer soccer coach. I was on a three month summer soccer coach in vacation, and came over to California, didn't really know what I was looking at doing. And you know, how it would all work and eventually just fell in love with California.

Dave: No way.

John: I fell in love with the, you know, the weather staying away from the rainy cold English weather and decided to stay and make this home.

Dave: So when you talk about being a soccer coach, you know, I think about soccer like taking my kids to, you know, AYSO and like the field. But you're talking about like professional level type soccer coach coming out to the U.S., and like really some competitive soccer.

John: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, at first I started as a, you know, as a recreational summer camp coach. You know, just somewhere for kids to go during the summer, you know, during school vacations. Parents would drop 'em off for three six hours and, you know, come almost like a glorified babysitter. But you know, eventually I got more involved in the more competitive clubs club soccer leading to, you know, a lot more time traveling, be more involved in, you know, helping kids prepare to get to college, and go off and hopefully play college soccer.

Dave: Awesome, awesome. Okay, so you're here, you're hanging out for a few months, summer you got hooked on obviously the weather and In 'N Out of course and...

John: Yeah.

Melina: In 'N Out.

Dave: Yeah, what a cool thing. Right. So you've been 15 years now, so you meet Selene somewhere in between, how did that happen?

John: Yeah. Selene and I met just over six years ago. I was living in Redlands, Selene was living and working in Oakland and we met at Victoria Gardens. That was the first time we got together and went for coffee together at Victoria Gardens, and pretty much, you know, we fell in love very quickly. And got married, just over five years ago now and settled down and started to build a life together.

Dave: Okay. Awesome, and Selene you'd say you fell in love right away with John too obviously.

Selene: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Dave: Yeah, obviously. So given that, what were you doing at the time Selene? You came here from Mexico.

Selene: Yes.

Dave: How long had you been here?

Selene: I'd been here for six years, yes. And I came here just looking to provide for my kids. I was a single mom, and I came...I started working as a nanny. So when actually I met John, that's what I was doing. And that was four months after I came to the U.S., so yes, like John said we were married five years ago, and we were working three jobs by then when we find you guys. And that was like a very funny story the way that we actually end up calling the club and everything. I don't know if you wanna talk about that John.

Dave: We'll get there.

Selene: Absolutely.

Dave. So I wanna back up a bit. So you're here for a few months?

Selene: Four months.

Dave: And you meet a guy from the U.K.

Selene: From the U.K. with a lovely accent.

Dave: So you fell in love with his accent.

Selene: Yes.

Dave: And I remember you telling a different story at a different time saying your English was not as...

Selene: Oh, well, you can tell. My English is not great, but it's way better now than how it used to be. So it's been obviously an improvement for me. You know, it has to be after six years.

Dave: So back in the day John didn't understand a word you were saying and he just said, "She's beautiful, I'm in love."

John: Exactly.

Dave: Let's just say it like it is.

Melina: He learned all the bad Spanish words.

Selene: Pretty much, yes.

Dave: That's so great. So you guys settled down as you say. Now, let's back up to that settling down. So at the time, you're now staying in the U.S., John and that summer three month job obviously evolved into...I mean, what was that life looking like at that time?

John: Well, it involved into a fulltime job here in the U.S., but it was, you know, living paycheck to paycheck. I mean, at first I was literally sleeping on a friend's couch for probably nine months, till I was able to make enough money to now rent an apartment. And start to kinda pick myself up. But it took some time and, you know, when I met Selene it was close to seven-eight years of being here. I was still in that stage of just constant living pay check to pay check. I was working two jobs, I was trying to put myself through college at the same time. And you know, just always knew I wanted something extra, something different.

Dave: Got it. So you mentioned being a single mom. So you obviously have a couple of kids at the time, John's trying to provide for himself sleeping on a couch. How were you guys...I mean, you guys get together, how were you making ends meet back then? I mean, things look different today, we'll get to that in a minute but, you know, I just wanna kinda hear about, you know, there's a struggle that took place in order to get you guys where you are today. And I wanna make sure that we don't, you know, fast forward this so much to like....oh. And today, I know you guys have had tremendous success but that journey is really what I want people to capture and understand. Because, you guys are a true testament as to what's possible, you know, with hard work and being around the right people and the right resources. And putting all that together. So you're working one fulltime job...how many, I mean?

John: Well, one fulltime job, one day job if you wanna say, and then my evenings and weekends was always filled with coaching. Selene, was working pretty much 6:30 in the morning till, well anything 6 p.m. 10 p.m. sometimes.

Dave: As a nanny?

John: As a nanny, yeah.

Selene: As a nanny, yes.

Melina: Which left you to not be able to care for your own children.

Selene: That was the main thing. I mean, I'm very thankful for the opportunity, don't take me wrong, but eventually, it was not enough in the way of we always try to, "What's next? Is this the way that we want to live always? I don't really wanna do this all my life."

Melina: Right, because you're raising somebody else's children.

Selene: That's exactly what was happening.

Melina: Yeah, it's tough for a mom, single mom especially.

Selene: Exactly, and I was not spending time with my new husband and my three kids. And for me, that's one of the most important things.

Melina: Well, the idea that you came to the U.S. to create a better life, right?

Selene: Absolutely.

Melina: And then you found yourself working really, really hard and raising somebody else's children.

Selene: Yes.

Melina: So...which is incredibly impressive but also I think it's important because you were willing to take the sacrifice. And as a mom, like I know the sacrifice that must have been 100%, yeah, that's a big, big deal. But you didn't give up. It wasn't like you said, "Well I'm gonna just go back because..." Right? You still believed somehow some way in the American dream I think.

Selene: Yes, and for me, I mean, it's very surreal the way that I always see my life personally. I always find myself incredible, blessed and lucky. Because, there is a lot of people that are struggling there and there is a lot of single moms that are struggling obviously. But I found the opportunity to actually provide for my kids and that for me, it was a great opportunity. And yes when I came here, it was a struggle because my kids were not with me. So that's the hardest thing that I've ever done in my life. But it was a struggle and a sacrifice for them, for myself. So they understood. I'm never complain, even when I came in it was not easy, the family was a very lovely family.

Melina: That you were nannying for?

Selene: Yes, but I have family that have been here all their life, they live here. And they have done nothing. I mean, with all due respect they have done nothing. And I always thought if you come here, how come you're not taking the opportunities? Why you just settle for, I will just provide and eat him pay my bills and then I'm good. So I believe that that's not me. And I'm over blessed because I met John and he is exactly the same way, that's the key, I believe that's the key. The level of commitment that we have to each other and just believe that we're good, but this is not all what we can do. So what else can we do? So...

Dave: Got it. Oh, it's awesome. That's so great. So how on earth do you go from soccer coach working multiple jobs, soccer coaching...because I remember when I met you John, like, you looked like a walking zombie.

Selene: Oh yes.

John: I mean, you were talking about like getting a couple of hours of sleep a night, and you were traveling and you were always gone. And I remember even meeting you and part of my reluctance and even allowing you to come and join the club and really do that was, "Could you guys fit this in your schedules?" You know, you're working like crazy, you're nannying. And I mean, how do you go from a soccer coach and nanny to...I mean, you know, I'm fast forwarding just a bit but I mean here we are a few years later and you guys are now fulltime real estate investors. I mean, that is just mind blowing. I mean, it is crazy when you think about, you know, there's so many people that kinda come and go and they make a million excuses as to why they can't and so forth. And really you guys had a million excuses if you wanted to use them. So you know, I give you a tremendous amount of respect for that, but how did you land here?

John: Well, it was a struggle, you know, Selene and I working these three jobs. But we knew we had to do it. You know, we found every possible spare minute, spare 10 minutes, spare hour. You know, we were working till 10:00 at night every night to try and provide something extra. And we were fortunate to, you know, get a little foot in the door start to find some deals after maybe...sorry.

Dave: What led you guys to even real estate at all? I mean, let's back up to that portion, because that's an interesting one. I know we kinda skipped here like why real estate? I mean, you were looking for something else, I get that but you're also 24 hours a day is essentially taken up by life and kids and the struggle. So what led you to find New Wealth Advisors Club and so forth?

John: Purely by chance, purely, completely by chance. I mean, Selene was actually looking for a job for her two teenagers. You know, we got two teenagers at home and we decided we needed to find them a part time job. And we saw a sign that said, "Investors seek students," and Selene called up and said...you know, she left a message said hey, "I've got two students and I'm looking for a job for them."

Dave: So great.

Melina: Such a good mom.

John: Maybe a couple of hours later, a young guy called and started talking to Selene, and it just so happened, she wasn't working that afternoon. She was in the kitchen, and she's cooking, we got kids doing homework, screaming shouting. And she's trying to juggle the phone at the same time. And the guy she was speaking to she said, "One second," and she literally just threw the phone at me and said, "John I need you to speak to this person. I've no idea what it's about."

Celine: I was lost on the...probably the first minute after he was talking. The English was too much for me, "I don't know. What is he saying?"

John: So I mean, I just ended up speaking to, you know, somebody who was part of the club, and we got talking about things. And really, it was a bizarre conversation, because I'd completely forgot that 10 years ago I'd bought this infomercial pack from Late Night Real Estate Investing, "Learn to Buy Houses with No Money No Credit."

Selene: No money, no credit.

Dave: Never heard of that one before.

John: And you know, I don't remember how much I'd paid for this box, but it turned up one day and it was may be like three feet by three feet with 100 DVDs and a 100 bucks. And I literally opened it, saw all the material and closed it, stuck it in the closet, and when I moved house I think it ended up in the trash can. So I know at some stage, I'd had some thought about real estate.

Dave: Sure.

John: Some idea of how does that work?

Dave: Or insomnia one night.

John: Yeah insomnia one night.

John: So suddenly, finding myself speaking to somebody about real estate and I think actually, I'm trying to remember, the conversation was less about real estate and just more about personal goals. You know, "What is it you want for yourself? What is it you want for your future? What is it you want for your family?" You know, "How dedicated are you? How hardworking are you?" And they're all the values that we have. Selene and I, we were in that stage of working three jobs. It was what we needed financially to survive every month, you know, just to get by, so...

Dave: Right.

Melina: I remember, the first night that I met you when you guys came to one of our introductions, and afterward you came up to me and you said...introduced yourselves. And I just remember, I thought you were the cutest things I'd ever seen. And then, you were telling me you were trying to buy a house. You wanted to buy a house yourselves, and that was really what you were thinking. You know, you said, "If you can just teach us how we can buy a house," and you shared that you had been putting offers on properties and kept on getting outbid.

Selene: Yes, by Investors.

John: By cash investors, you know.

Melina: Yeah. And so I said to you, "Stick with me and you'll never pay full price for a house."

John: Absolutely.

Selene: Yes, we remember that. Yes, so I remember what Melina is just saying because we actually used to say when we were overbid on houses, I'm sorry, that we were trying to buy, and the investors get it, then we were, "Can you just give us a chance only once?" So when we saw the opportunity, "Oh, my gosh. Actually can we be that? I mean, they're doing good."

Dave: That's awesome. So you came out, originally it was, "Okay I wanna be able to find ourselves a house," right?

Selene: Yes.

Dave: And then, over time we got to know you guys a little better, dive in a little bit deeper. I remember your initial goal was to get Selene a home, right?

John: Absolutely.

Dave: And there was a target, right, because one of the things that we teach is like you gotta have a target. You've gotta have a goal, you gotta have something to know that you're trying to, you know, ultimately get to. And then what was that? And so I remember, back in the day you had mentioned something to the effect of if I make X...what was...I remember...

John: Thirty grand.

Dave: Thirty grand.

John: Thirty thousand, was our goal to say well if we could make $30,000 in a year then Selene would be able to quit her job, giving her the time that she wanted with the family, with the kids in the morning, being able to make breakfast all that stuff. And we said, well 30 grand would pay for her salary, plus we would be able to enjoy a family vacation.

Dave: Oh that's awesome.

John: And that was, you know, very simple for us but just enough to do what we needed to do.

Melina: I'm just curious. I know this is...I just am curious. When you guys came to the initial training and I know that it was like learning another language, right?

John: Oh completely.

Selene: Yes.

Melina: So at what point...I mean, I don't know if you can identify this or not, but at what point did you realize, "Wow, we could probably do this, do you know?"

John: I mean, it wasn't through the first training. You know, we attended some additional training. I mean, for Selene and I we spent a lot of time being very confused. You know, we joke about it. Selene was elbowing me saying, "John what are they saying, what are they saying?" And I'm saying, "Shush, I'm trying to listen, I don't know, just..." You know. And that was a language barrier but also the, how far out of our debts we were in the way of being green to real estate.

Selene: We had no experience at all.

John: We'd, you know, never even bought our own house, we didn't understand any terminology. We thought a short sale meant that it went fast, you know, it was quick and, you know, that's...

Dave: So great.

John: That's how little we knew about real estate so...I mean...

Melina: So you didn't believe it right away?

John: Oh no. I mean, it took us a long time to believe it and, you know, I'm a bit of a skeptical person. But there was something about our introduction meeting that just made us feel incredibly comfortable. You know, and we looked at each other in the introduction and said, "We need to do this. I don't know why but we need to do this." And that's why we, you know, we moved forward with it and...

Dave: It's just remarkable, in that, you know, like it's going back to, you had every excuse, everything you could possibly...I mean, I can write 100 of them for you right now. And yet something told you guys, "You know, let's stay the course," and maybe just because you didn't understand what you're getting yourself into just yet, I don't know but...

John: Maybe.

Selene: Maybe.

Dave: So we're moving on. And so you get plugged in, and one of the things that we do inside the club or what we preach or practice is that, you know, you've gotta repeat. Like we have training every month. We have training sometimes every week, you know, lots and lots of different trainings that are going on. And we really stress. You know, one of the things that Melina and I both say is that, you know, until you can teach a class, right, you need to be in class. And so you know, one of the benefits of the club is that, you know, there's no additional charges or investment or anything. It's just we just want you to make it a priority in your life to do that. So you're working multiple jobs, you're still nannying, and you're still finding time to get yourselves to class as often as you can possibly get there, right?

John: Yeah, absolutely and, I mean, in three years I must have attended Melina's class 20 times, got something new from it every single time. And we built our focus around what we knew we needed to do. We made the time, we made the effort. You know, we're at the club on a Saturday night at 9, 10:00 at night, having already had a crazy week. And you know, maybe even I've just driven 200 miles for a soccer game. But still we're focused on...and for me that was a big thing. The club got us in a position to say, you need to be focused. If you focus on what it is you wanna do you can achieve your goals. And you're surrounded by the type of people who are regularly achieving those types of goals.

Melina: Well, we were there with you 9:00 at Saturday night or 10:00 whatever it was.

John: Yeah, absolutely.

Melina: That does make a difference. It wasn't you trying to do it on your own. Right?

Dave: Yeah, it wasn't like you were sitting there watching a webinar or something all by yourself, you know, at your house. It was actually being in class doing, you know, the activity, being around the people that are doing... I know you guys hit it off. We had talked to Myke Van Ness a few weeks back and we spent some time talking to him. And I know you guys gravitated to Myke. And really Myke kinda took you under his wing, and it's a cool story for us in that, you know, the student becomes the coach, becomes a mentor. And you know Myke's obviously an integral part of what's going on. But you're able to accomplish that $30,000 goal and ultimately Selene you were able to leave that job.

Selene: Oh yeah, I've been doing this fulltime for two years now.

Dave: Two years.

Selene: Two years, and we've doing this for three so I was...

Dave: So it took you about a year...

Selene: A year.

Dave: ...to make that $30,000 that you needed to be able to walk away from that job?

Selene: Absolutely, yeah.

Dave: You know, that's just awesome. I mean, thinking about making an extra $30,000, you know, is remarkable, on top of you have very little time. Right? So you had to obviously leverage that time by utilizing, you know, resources in the club, other people and so forth, right? So we get through there and then what was your next goal? The next goal was...?

John: The next goal was for me to quit my jobs, you know, because Selene was able to quit hers, you know, within the first year. And I was still working my two jobs. I've been receiving a paycheck since I was 16 years old, never not had a paycheck. So the goal of...

Melina: That's a scary transition.

John: The goal of trying to work for ourselves. You know, we love to spend time together, we love to work together. It has its challenges, you know, as a couple, relationship, working.

Dave: Sure.

John: You know, but at the same time we really wanna do that. And being able to quit my two jobs was then the next goal.

Dave: Got it.

John: So you know, a little bit more with three kids at home, all the bills all that stuff. So we wanted that security and, you know, then suddenly we hit a momentum that we could never have appreciated what was gonna happen.

Dave: Got it. So that momentum, that's a really a key thing and I know you hit on this a lot, honey, when you're teaching class and so forth. And you know, about...in business from the very beginning, and Melina and I would say this going back to when we started this, we didn't know what we didn't know, right? Kinda like where you guys were at. You didn't know what you didn't know but we told you, "Hey stay the course, stay plugged in, stay committed. Melina's, you know, constantly saying activity...

Melina: Produces results.

Dave: There you go. So the activity produces a result, right, and we gotta be able to measure that activity, look at the results and then adjust for that. And you guys are a prime example of that, because when you mentioned momentum, and I want everybody to hear that, the momentum didn't come overnight, right? It took time. I found 10 minutes here, I found an hour here, I did whatever I had to do to get that going. I didn't know the momentum was coming, right? I want everybody to really hear that, like, I didn't know that that was coming, but I stayed the course, I copied what I saw, being emulated all around me.

John: Absolutely, yeah.

Dave: You know, our club has literally, you know, hundreds of examples of people doing this type of thing. And so you stayed the course, you were able to quit your job, that freed up your time, certainly freed up your mind, right? Because, now you're being mom which is what you're ultimately driven to do, right. That's what...your whole goal. You left her kids behind to provide for your family. And being able to get your kids here and, you know, I can see you're, you know, yeah it's emotional and it's awesome.

You know, you're able to leave that. John's then able to...you know, the second job because that's the next stress in the family, right, is because you're still gone all the time.

John: I'm still gone all the time, still working, you know, 9 to 5 every day, and then working evenings and weekends on the coaching. You know, I made a decision to quit coaching. We were in a financial position that said, "Well, maybe I just quit one job right now."

Dave: Right.

John: And that was, you know, just after the New Year. And we then just decided to say, "Well what would it really look like? What do we need to now get to that next stage?" And then that was when, you know, we did a great fix and flip partnering with Myke Van Ness. You know, suddenly we made that over 70,000 bucks on one single deal. Which we were able to share with Myke and there was our, you know, going back to when we first met at the introduction and we were talking about goals and 30,000 a year would change our life. And suddenly we've closed one deal worth more than that. For Selene and I that was really that first real surreal time. It was, "Oh my goodness I'm holding a...

Melina: So is that when you believed?

John: I believed a little bit earlier. But that was the real game changer. Suddenly, you're holding a year's salary in your hand from one deal. Now, as Melina would always say, "Just go do it again. Go find the next one." And we were already searching, we were already finding, we were already working on other deals. So it was...you know, that's when we really believed. You know, it is definitely when it changed our life and I was now able to go fulltime and...

Melina: And John, share that a little bit if you would because it wasn't easy for you to make that decision. The part time job, right, getting rid of that one was pretty simple for you to let go of but it was the main job.

Selene: The day job.

Melina: Yeah, the day job, it was not easy.

John: The day job as being...I mean, that was a company I'd worked for since I came to the country. And you know, they were great supporting my visa and I had a lot of respect for the company as well. So it was kinda bittersweet because I enjoy soccer, you know, that was my life and I enjoy soccer. But at the same time Selene and I knew the potential of what we could achieve if we were both able to go fulltime and all guns blazing in this business. And so it was literally just a couple months ago and...

Melina: We had to have a conversation.

John: We did have a conversation and it's until you fully experience, you know, being part of the club and being part of what it means to have friends and family around you, you know, I don't know how much we even shared with you Dave. But Selene and I had just got into a massive argument about work and stress, and this. And we saw Melina and we went and sat with Melina and had a 30 minute conversation. And the next minute I walked out and said, "That's it I'm quitting my job. That's what I need to do." That's where I'm gonna relieve the stress in our life to be able to focus on this business and that's, I mean...

Dave: Wow.

Melina: I was able to share...it was it was very similar to you quitting the tax practice, you retiring from the tax practice. And that was actually how I shared it, because I remember the stress that it was creating for you. And I think, you know, as men you're automatically driven to want to make sure that you have that security...

Dave: For sure.

Melina: ...you wanna provide, and you wanna protect and that's a lot of what was happening for John.

Dave: Sure.

Melina: So that job represented...he believed some sort of security, that's what he thought. But what was really happening, was that he was miserable. Selene was totally all in ready to go. She had full faith, that they could do this fulltime. John did as well but he in the back of his mind was holding on to that little bit of a security blanket.

Dave: I totally can identify for sure.

Melina: Exactly, which is exactly why I shared, you know, our story. And explained to John how the tax practice, the security blanket quote, was really making you miserable. It was like strangling you.

Dave: Oh gosh, yeah.

Melina: And that's what was happening with John. It was strangling him, because he could not ever be all in. And so the stress of that was creating a lot of a lot of tension between them. And when we walked through their finances, you know, they had hit all of their goals. So then the realization of, "Oh shoot it's really not a security blanket. It's actually chains, you know?

Dave: It's an anchor holding you back.

Melina: It's an anchor, yes. And so I just shared how you...

Dave: Yeah, I mean, that was exactly...really, I mean, 15 years I was, you know, doing taxes and being an enrolled agent and having 500 clients. And I even get that sense of like when you said loyalty to the company, you know, I was loyal to my clients. You know, my clients were the ones who gave me the opportunity to have that security of growing this practice from zero clients to 500 a year that you're serving. And really, it was killing me inside and, you know, it was affecting who I was as a person. You know, because I'm working, you know, during the tax season from what essentially starts before Christmas. You get geared up for it, and then it doesn't end until, you know, May. And then corporate extensions come into the end of the year.

And I remember Melina and I sitting there and we're like, "What would this look like?" You know, we're doing real estate and we're doing well but what would it look like if I just let that go? Like what could our time look like? And I just remember soon as we did that I went to the doctor. The doctor actually ran a blood panel and my doctor told me "I'll bet you a 10 to 1 you'll have a massive heart attack in the next 10 years and you will die." And I said, "Geez, like that's pretty serious." And she says, "You have to relieve this stress that's happening in your life." And I'm like but I'm loyal and I'm committed and I wanna provide for my family, and then Melina and I went at home and I said, "Okay..."

Melina: I think I maybe said I was gonna go to Idaho the next tax season if you decided to do it again.

Dave: She's gonna be gone for a quarter.

Melina: I would be gone for the quarter. I would be with the grandkids in Idaho, I think that's how it went actually.

Dave: And so yeah, I was...there was just, "Do I sell the practice? Do I...if I sell it, I gotta work in it. I gotta do all these stuff." I'm like, no you know what, I just gotta let it go. And I said to all my clients, "You know, basically thanks for all your years, but I'm out. I'm not doing this anymore." And I don't believe in luck, I don't believe in chance, you know, things happen for a reason. And the very next week, we signed a deal that...I mean gosh, sometime we gotta spend some time going to that. It's just a remarkable story but, yeah, we signed a deal that ultimately we closed six months maybe seven months later, a complete rehab that we did, that I would have never been able to take on during the tax... It would have just been impossible. And that was over $100,000 deal. And we looked back and said, "That one deal paid for that entire tax season, and I'm healthy and I feel good. And I can be a husband and I can be dad, and heck I'm a grandpa too." So as crazy as that sounds, I say it sometimes. I still get a little...I'm a grandpa at 25 years old, I don't know. So the math doesn't work, don't worry about it.

So I can totally relate and yet I've watched two of you that I can remember very first times looking at you guys. And I had my own doubts. I mean, I'll be very, very honest with you, I had my own doubts. Like, you know, can you really do this? Can you find the time? And one of the things Melina and I we kind of pride ourselves on, is let's do the best that we can for whoever shows up like let's give them the best coaching that we can based on their circumstances. You know, and there was no reason I could tell you guys no because in the face of every possible excuse, and objection you could come up with, it was no we have to do this.

Like we can't work the way we're working and I can totally relate because, I could see you having that massive heart attack at some point and/or unfortunately, you know, we work so much. We put so much pressure, you know, it leads to so many struggles in a marriage that we ultimately end up growing apart from one another. And you know, I mean, heck, here we are sitting here. We just went on vacation together.

John: Yeah.

Selene: Wow, yes.

John: You know. And I think...weren't you guys on vacation like just before that?

Melina: Yes.

Dave: We just...two to vacations in the same month, yeah. We just...we took...

Melina: And three vacations in the same year because we just went to New York.

Dave: Oh we did. We went to New York in March and then we went to Cancun just recently, and then off to the river with you guys and...

Selene: It's been the most amazing year.

Dave: More vacations than I've had in five years, so...

John: Wow.

Melina: And I think back to the VIP lunch and you saying when we asked you what was the number and you said, 30,000 because that would allow two things. Selene to quit her job and you guys to have a family vacation.

John: Family vacation.

Selene: Oh my God, this is so surreal.

Dave: It's so awesome, and Selene I understand you so much more three years later. So with that, hey, you know, I just wanna say thank you guys for coming down today and hanging out with us...

Melina: I actually wanted to just... I just wanted to say something. I guess we're closing up now, yeah?

Dave: No, honey, you are in control 100%.

Melina: Well, as we were sitting here today thinking, you know, just listening to your story, and I was thinking about the two of you. And I was thinking that, I don't know if you realize this, but statistically speaking every single odd is against you. Do you know that? That all the statistics are stacked against you. Number one, because you're married. So married people automatically we don't...you know, marriages don't stand up. Number two, you're a blended family.

John: Yeah.

Selene: Yes.

Melina: Blended families have an even higher rate of divorce. Number three, you are in business together.

Selene: We know what you're talking about, yes.

Melina: Right? So I mean, all of those things are all statistics and then let's just top it off with you guys are immigrants. You were not born in the U.S. So you guys are...you have so many statistics. All the stats are against you. There's no good reason, right? I mean, I could reason why you should never be where you are today. And so I really want to like commend you for overcoming all those obstacles. Like those are huge. Most people can't stand up to one of those. Most people, fail in their marriage let alone blended family, let alone being business owners, in business together. And coming to the United States and learning what it means to be an American, right? Learning our language.

Selene: Another culture.

Melina: A completely different culture, a completely different language. You know, it makes you really extraordinary people. And so I just wanna acknowledge that. I was thinking about that like holy cow. Like I wonder what this...you guys probably have like a...I'll bet you, you could probably figure it out babe because you're so smart with numbers, right. Like I'll bet you the statistics. I'll bet you, statistically speaking you're probably in...I'll bet you, you're like, you know, 10% chances that you should be sitting where you are today, right, just based on the general, you know.

Dave: Who knows what the number is? I just know that it's...

Melina: I don't know what it is. I just know that...

Dave: It's remarkable.

John: And for us, it's not something that we sit back and think about all that, because the struggles that we have or had had been real struggles. But for us to be able to surround ourselves with people like yourself, Dave and Melina, you know, our mentors, Myke, other people within the club who have also had some of those struggles before. And being able to relate to them, and listen to their stories, their journeys. And for all the different areas that you talk about, you know, marriage, business together, we've been able to...without being in a counseling center, we've been able to be counseled through and mentored through all these different areas. And that for us is.... I've never really sat back and thought about statistically how much we should be struggling because we kind of have, but we haven't at the same time because we've had that support. And for us, you know, to say thank you to yourselves, to Myke, to the club, to everybody who's been involved in our success, I mean, for us we're only where we are because of yes, because of our hard work. But because we were able to surround ourselves with the right people in the first place.

Selene: That's something that, yeah, for me it was very important to say. Yes, like John said that we don't think about the numbers and the statistics, I'm sorry, that are not on our favor. But yes, we are very aware that the only, and the only one reason why we are here feeling the way that we feel because there is no words to express how thankful we are. Because that's the way that we live now. We live in a lot of thankful...and it's because of you guys.

And I'm not talking necessarily about a New Wealth Advisers Club. That's an office. But what you find inside of the office, the environment, the way that you are being able to coach us, mentor us not only at the financial and business wise it's been so personal. You Melina, have been helping us so much in our marriage in the way of when we are having this trouble as a couple that works together and we are not wanting to do it anymore, you help us to see the light. Because we want to be doing this always. But we rather to be husband and wife, happy husband and wife than, you know, just be partners and lose the marriage. And you guys helped us to find that balance. And that's...there is no way that you can appreciate that enough, so we are so blessed.

Melina: Thank you.

Dave: Wow. Well, yeah, I don't even know how to follow that up, other than to say thank, you to you guys because you're what makes this all worthwhile.

Melina: That's right.

Dave: You're what...you know, Melina and I we talk about all the time about how the club adds pressure and stress and different things to our lives. And you know, we could close up the office and go home, and do real estate on our own and we could make money and that'd be fine. And then we realize that, you know, we definitely have a higher calling in life and that is to be able to have stories like this, because it makes it all worthwhile. I mean, it just makes it all worthwhile.

Like I'll be happy to...I'll be listening to this in my car in the next few weeks multiple times, and just to reflect sometimes when maybe I'm not having a good day, and I'm not in the space of gratitude and thankfulness. I can stop, and really reflect on that. So I just appreciate you guys' honesty, and your transparency and your time this morning with us. So with that...honey your voice made it.

Melina; It did. I know, it sounds a little scratchy at times.

Dave: Well, that was a vacation and having a good time and all that good stuff.

Melina: That's right.

Dave: So with that, we'll catch all of you guys and those here listening look us up. Come down and say hi to John and Selene one day. They're just a fantastic couple and, you know, if you ever get a chance to work with them, you'd be blessed as well.

Melina: Absolutely.

Dave: So with that we are...

Melina: Flipping off.

Dave: And flipping out. See you.

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